Is a name such as Trail Mix or Harvest Blend, or other similar names such as California Mix, Sunshine Mix, etc. acceptable as a common name for a snack food consisting of various combinations of dried fruits, nuts, cereals, pretzels, candies, etc.
No objection is taken to a common name such as "Trail Mix", "Harvest Blend", etc. It is not necessary to include additional words or descriptions, such as "snack", or a partial list of ingredients.
Common names such as "Trail Mix" and "Harvest Blend" are considered to be the names by which these foods are generally known as they have been commonly accepted for many years by Canadian consumers. The specific content of these mixes can be determined from the list of ingredients.
Is "potato crisps" an acceptable alternative common name for "potato chips? (It is the British term for "potato chips")
Yes, the common name "potato crisps" is an acceptable alternative common name for "potato chips" on Canadian labels. In French, the terms "croustilles" and "chips" are both acceptable.
Can the flavour claim "Salt and Vinegar" be used to describe potato chips that contain acetic acid rather than vinegar
No, potato chips flavoured with acetic acid rather than vinegar must not be described as "salt and vinegar". They may be described as "salt and vinegar flavoured potato chips", "salt and simulated vinegar potato chips", "salt and imitation vinegar potato chips" or "salt and artificial vinegar potato chips". In the list of ingredients, the ingredient name "acetic acid" should be used, not "simulated vinegar flavour".
This decision is consistent with others taken regarding the claim "flavoured". For example, a "chocolate candy" must contain chocolate, which has a standard prescribed in section 4.1.6 in the Canadian Food Compositional Standards document, but a "chocolate flavoured candy" may contain only artificial chocolate flavour. "Cherry ice cream" is expected to contain some cherry ingredient such as cherries or cherry extract or natural cherry flavour, but "cherry flavoured ice cream" could simply contain artificial cherry flavour. An orange drink is expected to contain some orange product, while an "orange flavoured drink" is not.